It’s time to talk about what music I listened to in 2021!
This time around, I added ~1,000 songs to my library. That’s ~200 more songs than last year. The majority of those songs came from Freegal, the library music service that continues to be my saving grace. I also bought a few songs from Amazon’s Download Store, which I switched to after Google shut down its MP3 store last year.
Changes in Methodology
My Top Songs list is kind of messy this year. As I explained in previous posts, I lost access to iTunes when I had to replace Windows 10 with Ubuntu on my laptop. I briefly tried Ubuntu’s Rhythmbox music player before switching to a slightly older version of iTunes on my Windows 7 netbook. Thankfully, my library is finally back to normal.
Due to the many changes in apps, I wasn’t sure how to get an accurate report of my play counts. My solution? Combine them! I have records from the Musicolet app, which I had been using on the phone all year without interruption, and my current iTunes library, which contains the play counts from January to July (before the laptop meltdown) and from October to December (after I restored my library). I’m only missing the stats from Rhythmbox and the older version of iTunes that I used during August and September.
Here’s the process I used to calculate the play counts:
1. Make three columns on a piece of paper. Write the top 16 songs and their play counts for iTunes and Musicolet in the first and second columns respectively.
2. Compare the songs from both sources. Add the play counts from the Musicolet column to any duplicate songs on the iTunes column and cross them out.
3. Add the play counts from iTunes to the rest of the songs in the Musicolet column.
4. Tally up both lists. Write down the highest plays from the first two columns in the third column.
Yes, this method requires more work, but it feels more accurate and less redundant than my previous way.
Another change I made this time is that I’m only going to discuss the top three songs and a few extras. As much as I enjoy talking about music, it’s torture having to explain 16 times in a row why I like a song.
Music Library Stats
Without further ado, here are my Top Songs for 2021:
Shockingly, my entire list is composed of K-Pop songs. There isn’t a single J-Pop or English-language song to be found. That’s never happened before. There are also very few repeat offenders from years past.
Top Song
The song I played the most is “Erase,” a duet by Hyolyn and Jooyoung with a feature from the late rapper Iron. This is the second year in a row that a female K-Pop artist has taken the top spot. This is the first time, however, that Hyolyn has been number one as a solo artist despite having consistently ranked on my lists over the years.
YouTube suggested “Erase” to me because I’d been watching old Sistar and Hyolyn videos. After scrolling past the video for several months, I finally watched it. Dude! That song grabbed me from the first listen. I’m a sucker for a good breakup song. Hyolyn and Jooyoung really make me believe the emotions, the intertwined love and pain, that go into that situation. I like the little touches in the song too, like when Hyolyn sings “Hello” and “Goodbye” in the background during the verses and the “do do-do do do do” part in the chorus. I couldn’t get that melody out of my head.
I don’t know much about Jooyoung beyond his feature on Heize’s song “Tree Only Look At You.” His voice is impressive. He occasionally outsings Hyolyn a bit, but they still sound pretty good together.
Runner-Up
My second most-played song is “Fireworks (I’m The One)” by the boy band ATEEZ.
I’m not exactly sure how I first discovered ATEEZ. Knowing me, I probably checked them out after the band’s name kept popping up on Twitter. I watched their video for “THANXX” in late 2020 and loved it. From there, I streamed their music on Amazon Music Unlimited and eventually collected all of their albums (and music videos) from Freegal. Not only are these guys gorgeous, but they always put in 150% and seem to be having fun to boot. Also, I’m intrigued by the whole storyline with the masked man that they’ve got going on. I guess I’m an ATINY now.
The energy level of “Fireworks (I’m The One)” is through the freaking roof! The beat is slow and steady in the verses, with a bit of a bounce to it. Then the chorus kicks in and things go full tilt. But what sets it apart is that the chorus then ramps up a second time. Every time they say “Bulnoriya!”, I get more hyped up. Plus, everyone is giving their A-game. Hongjoong and Mingi’s rap verses hit hard, the vocal line is on point, and Jongho’s high notes are pitch perfect.
While I’m talking about ATEEZ, I should mention that they also rank at #11 with their song “Deja Vu.” I heavily leaned towards “Deja Vu” when the group asked everyone to choose between it and “Eternal Sunshine” for the lead single of their ZERO: FEVER Part.3 album. I knew from the snippet that it was going to be fun. It has a darker, more mature sound than their usual stuff. The guys go all-in with their sensual sides, with the English line in the chorus “I want you so bad!” particularly standing out. With more time, I think it could have overtaken “Fireworks” on the list.
The “Deja Vu” music video is a masterpiece too. Everything is done up in stormy blacks and blues. They’re all wearing leather and absolutely serving up the hotness. My favorite part is when they’re dancing in the rain and Wooyoung grabs San by the jacket and pretends to bite his neck like a vampire. The steamy look he shoots the camera as he shoves San aside and struts away should be illegal.
Third Place
Another boy band, GOT7, comes in third with “Remember You.”
GOT7 was a pleasant surprise. Although I initially approached them as a new-to-me group, it turned out that I already recognized several of their songs from when I used to watch the MNET cable channel. After I collected the songs I knew, I got addicted to their dreamy voices and the catchy tunes. So I decided to collect every song they had. I got every group album (Korean and Japanese), everything from both sub-units, and every solo song/album available on Freegal. I ended up with over 200 tracks. I’m glad I did that, though, because I almost missed out on a lot of hidden gems.
“Remember You,” a B-side on their 7 For 7 album that was written by the group member BamBam, emerged as one of my overall favorites. It’s a beautiful breakup song (as far as I can tell from the few translations I could find). The sweet piano melody contrasts nicely with the thumping bass line. The band’s delivery is very moving too. Except for brief moments where one or more of them rightfully goes off, the guys sing and rap in somewhat hushed tones that suit the nostalgic air of the song. It always leaves my heart feeling tingly.
One of GOT7’s sub-units, Jus2, comes in at #7 with “Focus On Me.” Number seven? Coincidence? Anyway, Jay B and Yugyeom did the damn thing with that FOCUS EP, especially the lead track. It’s hypnotic. It’s seductive. It’s oddly soothing. Their voices blend and complement each other like a match made in heaven. With “Now focus on me” being the only words in the chorus through most of the song, they indeed give me time to take in what I’m hearing and think about what they’re saying. It will probably never happen now, but I would love a second album from this pair.
MVP
The artist with the most appearances on the list deserves a special shout-out: MONSTA X! As you can see, there are several artists with two songs in the top spots. I stretched the list out a tad farther than my usual 15 songs to see if I could break the tie. EXO almost won with Kai’s “Mmmh” (#17), but I.M’s “God Damn” (#16) gave MONSTA X three songs for the win.
I had been a casual MONSTA X listener for a few years. I liked “Beautiful,” “Shine Forever,” and “Hero,” but I didn’t seek them out beyond those songs. Things changed after I found some of their albums, specifically All About Luv, on Freegal. I was like, “Okay, these guys are really good!” I liked their “sophisticated bad boy” brand of swagger. Their music sounds different from everybody else out there.
Fatal Love cinched the deal when it came out. That album has zero skips. If one song comes up in the shuffle, I have to play the others. Those are the rules. Of course, some tracks demand an extra play or two. That’s where the wonderfully dirty “Guess Who” comes in. Nearly every detail lends itself to the sexual theme of the song. The beat is bass-filled and slinky. A little chime goes off every time they say “X, X” in the chorus that makes me think of things like a dinner bell or a “Next round!” boxing bell. On top of all of that, the guys use their adlibs to mimic sighs and moans (and possibly a climax depending on how you want to interpret that last run). Man, I love this song.
MONSTA X also has two solo entries from its members Joohoney and I.M.
I found Joohoney’s Mixtape [Psyche] album through a Freegal K-Pop playlist that included his song “King.” As awesome as “King” and the other tracks on the album are, “Dark & Cloudy” completely stole my attention. It features Boa Kim from the (sadly) disbanded girl group Spica. Boa has a very distinctive and powerful set of pipes that I’ve always appreciated. I was intrigued by this unexpected pairing.
“D&C” is nothing like I’d expected. It’s an experimental, electronica-type tune full of trippy distortion and funky guitar riffs. It’s not the typical rapper/singer collab where the rapper raps the verses and the singer sings the hook. Right off the bat, Joohoney, whom I know best as a rapper, sings the hook himself, with Boa later joining in to harmonize with him. Then, he seamlessly transitions into a hard rap verse and she takes it back into the chorus. The rest of the song is just Joohoney and Boa vibing off each other and showcasing their voices. You can tell that both of them are totally feeling it.
Meanwhile, I.M’s Duality album is great too. I was a Monbebe by the time the album was announced, so I was counting down the days until it came out. Luckily, Freegal got it. Duality is hip-hop at its center like Mixtape [Psyche], but whereas Joohoney’s album feels more pop influenced, I.M’s has more of an R&B feel to it. That’s right up my alley. I like every song on the album, “Burn” and “flower-ed” most of all.
“God Damn,” the album’s lead single, is so good. It’s a bit risky to name a song after that particular curse word. I certainly can’t listen to it without headphones lest my parents freak out. But the risk pays off. The title gets your attention and makes for a catchy chorus. I can’t tell you how many times I (quietly) sing to myself, “Goddamn it, I like it…” I.M adopts a Drake-like, talk-singing style that works well for him. His deep, raspy voice smoothly glides along the lazy beat.
Don’t be surprised if MONSTA X dominates my list again next year because their latest albums, The Dreaming and No Limit, are both excellent and in heavy rotation in my library.
Streaming Stats
The only streaming service I used in 2021 was Spotify…and I barely used that. According to my Spotify Wrapped stats, I only listened for 588 minutes. That’s 1,225 minutes less than in 2020. My usage began to increase towards the end of November, but most of that probably didn’t count.
I’m not going to go into deep detail about my top artist and song lists. As I explain every year, those lists aren’t that accurate for me as a non-subscriber. The lists are even more inaccurate this time around because of how little I listened to Spotify.
The exception is EXO as my top artist. EXO was one of my first K-Pop bands and they remain one of my top favorites. They’re just an all-around awesome group. But for whatever reason, I only owned a couple of their songs. I’ve recently begun to rectify that oversight. That’s how “Tempo” and “Obsession” ranked at #4 and #5 respectively on my main list. While I was buying my favorite singles from Amazon, I was exploring their full catalog on Spotify. So, yes, I did listen to them a lot—34 minutes to be ex’act. Pun intended.
An interesting new Wrapped tidbit is the Audio Aura. Based on what I listened to, Spotify says that my “top music moods” are “Soft” and “Dramatic.” I think that’s accurate. Looking at the top songs from my personal music library, I’d say that they all fall into one of those two categories.
Conclusion
Despite all of the setbacks, it was a really good year in music for me. I feel bad that there were no English or J-Pop songs on the list. I guess I should have seen it coming. I mean, K-Pop has dominated the list for the last several years with only one or two songs from the other genres managing to slip in.
That’s not to say that I didn’t add any songs from those genres to my library. For example, I got the new Evanescence album The Bitter Truth, I enjoyed Normani’s “Wild Side” and Chloe’s “Have Mercy,” and I was finally able to buy beloved classics like Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?” and Toni Braxton’s “Please.” On the J-Pop side, I collected stuff from old faves like T.M. Revolution, Sowelu, and Soulhead. I just didn’t play any of those songs enough for them to rank.
As much as I love K-Pop, I don’t want to get stuck on one genre. It’s time to expand my musical horizons again, listen to a wider variety of music. Of course, I’ll probably end up spending even more money on music. Oh well.
Photo Credit: “Collection of retro portable stereo cassette recorders” @ Yurchello108 from Getty Images via Canva.com